Sound cruise highlights natural resource

Published 9:57 pm, Monday, August 31, 2009

Sylvia Gordon has lived in Greenwich for more than 50 years, but on Saturday afternoon she got a new glimpse of one of the town's biggest natural resources.

Gordon, 75, joined more than 40 people on board the Islander II ferry for an educational cruise on Long Island Sound.

The cruise was the last in a three-part series of events over the past two months focusing on water, organized by the town's Conservation Commission and Go Greener Greenwich, the town's environmental action task force. The series included a trip to the Samuel J. Bargh Reservoir in Stamford, the town's main source of public drinking water, and a tour of Greenwich's wastewater treatment plant on Grass Island.

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The idea behind Saturday's cruise, led by Conservation Director Denise Savageau, was to showcase the history, problems and positive aspects of the Sound.

"It's the biggest natural feature we have in town," said Savageau, who noted during the tour that 20 million people live within 50 miles of the Sound. "It's an important resource we have to protect."

Gordon, who lives in Cos Cob, learned about the three rivers -- the Connecticut, Housatonic and the Thames -- that dilute the Sound with 90 percent of its freshwater, creating an estuary, a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea.

"It never ceases to amaze me what a resource we have here and how we take it for granted," Gordon said over the roar of the boat's motor.

"I am aware of how the quality of the water has improved here," said Gordon, who recalled trips to the beach years ago with her children. "Sometimes the water was murky and dirty. Now, it's really so clear."

Savageau noted there are still challenges. Stormwater runoff that pours into the Sound after heavy rains is filled with the chemicals people put on their lawns and material from failed septic tanks. Fortunately, the town's wastewater treatment plant removes close to 95 percent of the nitrogen from the water it then deposits into the Sound, Savageau said.

During the last part of the two-hour cruise, Savageau's husband, Michael Aurelia, spoke about shellfishing. Aurelia, former director of Greenwich's Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency, talked about how oyster beds were closed for several years until recently, after the water quality improved. The boat traveled into Greenwich Cove, near Greenwich Point, which Aurelia said was the best spot in town for clamming.

Ryan Nathe was more familiar with another estuary -- Puget Sound in Seattle, Wash., where he recently graduated from college. He and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Emily Liebskind, had just driven across the country and were visiting Liebskind's grandmother in Stamford when they decided to take the cruise.

"It's cool to see the water out here," said Nathe, 23, who noticed that there were more recreational boaters out Saturday than there usually are in Washington.

Some people simply boarded to enjoy a "cruise to nowhere" on a rare sunny day.

Barbara and Jim Gleason, a Greenwich couple in their 70s, had recently sold their latest boat, and decided to take advantage of the trip.

"We thought it was a great opportunity to get back on the water," Barbara Gleason said.

Staff Writer Lisa Chamoff can be reached at lisa.chamoff@scni.com or 625-4439.